Enemy At The Gate
by Qing Ri
Summary: Decided to put this back up  Chris & Jo's first day on Atlantis is shaken up by Todd's visit. With Jo off-world treating a flu outbreak, Is Chris going back to the Milky Way alone?
1. Chapter 1

I wanted to make two things clear after reading Sakra's review. First, Chris is short for Christina. She's a girl.  
Second, this is a repost from i-don't-even-know-how-long ago. I will go through it when i have time after my exams.

* * *

I tossed over in my bed, turning to face the clock. 4:10.

I swung my hand over the light switch and sat up in my new bed as the lights on the walls began to glow softly. Sleep always seemed distant on this particular day. I sighed and threw off the covers. My trainers were just beside the bed and my other clothes were already in the cabinets, so I changed into a pair of deep grey joggers and a light green shirt. On my way out of the room I picked up my bottle from last night, still full with water, and once again waved my hand over the light switch.

As the door closed behind me I stretched my neck, rolling it on my shoulders before looking to my right, visualizing the way I came and trying to remember the way to the training room. After all the thinking and making a plan it hit me, there wouldn't be anyone else there. I looked to the left instead. Just outside, through a window, was an empty pier. Albeit quite a run, I figured I'd be there and back before it was busy enough for me to be needed.

I was off like a shot.

I couldn't believe how much I missed my sister already. We both arrived a few days ago and my sister, Joanna, was a doctor and had to start yesterday. She'd been sent with a medical team to M2N- 364, they'd had a small outbreak and Dr. Keller wanted to test some of the new arrivals.

I must've run through a dozen corridors and twice as many transporters, but I never used them. Even for a short rest. They confused me, every time I tried to get my head around how they worked, but I just kept giving myself a headache.

After a few minutes, my feet steadied into a soft rhythm, thudding lightly on the ancient floors. I only stopped twice. Once in the mess hall for 2 minutes for a refill on my drink, and once to wait for the door to the pier to open. Outside my pace quickened and I closed my eyes, taking in everything. Every piece of salt air, every cold wisp of wind that played messily with my already curled and twisted hair. All reminding me of home.

I ran straight forward on the pier. I had my eyes closed ignoring everything but what I allowed my senses to pick up. I ran right to the edge of the pier. In fact I slammed into the rail protecting me from the raging ocean below. I lost my balance for a second, enough to make me feel like I wouldn't regain it, but I did. Looking up for the first time, I saw two moons setting.

I did a double take. Twin moons? I gasped, quickly realizing I'd been holding my breath since I'd hit the rail. I leaned over the edge of the city, listening to the waves crashing on the metal below me.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" The voice came from behind me and I swirled around, surprised anyone else would be awake, even at this time. Walking up the side of the pier was a woman. Most likely the same age as me, with a baby in her arms. "I like to come down here with Torren. He seems to like it here." She laughed a little and the baby she was holding giggled too and wriggled sweetly. I couldn't stop my smile as it found its way to my face. "I don't believe I have seen you here before. Did you come with Sam?"

It took me a while to find the words but when I did I told her the truth. Something I didn't like to do before I joined the Air Force. "Yes. I'm Chris." I began to move my hand to hold out for her to shake but then I remembered the baby and felt a little silly.

"I am Teyla. And this-" She paused as the baby in her arms wriggled again. "-Is a very hungry Torren." She smiled again shifting the baby around. "I am going to the Mess Hall. Do you want to join us?"

"Okay." I smiled remembering what Jo told me, to take the next offer of friendship shown.

A few minutes later I was sitting down with Teyla and Torren in the Mess Hall. She'd decided to use a transporter so as to get there quicker; lo and behold, the headache came. I carried both trays while Teyla held Torren and we sat down and we sat down at a table by the window, overlooking one of the best views I'd seen yet in Atlantis.

Over the next three hours, Teyla did everything possible to learn every detail about me and to my own surprise; I was inquisitive about her too. Altogether, I, Teyla and Torren went through about ten cups of coffee; I decided I'd get addicted to it; it was different and surprisingly good for coffee that had been taken for weeks through hyperspace to reach Pegasus. Two bowls of cereal, three cookies; that kind I was already addicted to. And five cups of milk, not counting the milk in the coffee. We quizzed each other, told jokes and funny stories, oohed and aahed at a sleeping Torren and in the end, began exchanging war stories.

"John!" she exclaimed in the middle of one of my Afghanistan stories. It roused Torren a little but he was in too much of a deep sleep.

"Huh?" I asked, my arms still in mid air, demonstrating, well what was an explosion and what was now half of one. But my own question was answered as a man moved behind me and sat in the empty chair beside me.

I twisted my head to face him. My arms slowly moved back down into a crossed position on the table as I recognized him and he spoke.

"Captain Gordon, shouldn't you be down in the armory?" It was Colonel Sheppard

I shifted uneasily in my seat. I turned over my wrist to check the time. It was already 8 in the morning; Major Lorne would've been waiting for an hour now. See my new job on Atlantis was partially as a weapons scientist; experimenting and adapting weapons and partially as Lorne's next in command. Kind of.

"Id better go then. He's gonna be pissed. See you later Teyla-" She grabbed my arm as I moved to get up.

"I won't be here for lunch-"

"We're going off-world," John chimed in. Teyla gave him a look. His reply was obviously _What?_

"-So do you want to meet me here for dinner?"

I smiled and she smiled back "Sure! I'll be back here around 5?"

She let go of my arm and nodded. "We can finish our conversation."

"Bye Teyla, Colonel Sheppard."

As soon as I had gone through the door I was running again. About five minutes after I left, I heard a call for John and Teyla. This time dodging the people, who now crowded the corridors, again I resisted the urge to use any transporters. I waited impatiently for my door to open, bouncing on the balls of my feet. I changed into my uniform staring at the 'Atlantis' badge for a while before putting it on and smoothing the half-fitted jacket down, looking at myself in the mirror. The black clothes looked alien against my amazingly red hair. It looked very bright in these Atlantian lights. Time check? I thought. Damn. The clock said 8:30.

My legs were aching from all the running around this morning so I just walked as fast as I could. When I finally reached the main armory, Lorne seemed to be assembling a group of people into groups. One small and one bigger. "What's going on?" I asked over the noise.

"If you'd have been here, you'd know." He didn't take any care to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Lorne I was making friends-"

"Look be quiet and listen." He handed out a few extra magazines as he spoke then threw a vest in my direction, already loaded a little. "Suit up and keep up." From the way he spoke to me I already didn't like him. I shrugged into the vest anyway and switched the magazines in the pockets with ones I needed for my preferred handguns. We left pretty soon after I'd arrived and I raced up to the front of the group next to Lorne. We walked, leading the group, side by side.

"Okay, we've got a dangerous visitor. Wraith."

"Wraith?"

"Yeah. It is however, one we know. Sheppard named him Todd."

"As in Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard?" I scooped my hair back and tied it tightly to the back of my head, then tucked the rest behind my ears.

"Yeah." He told me. I tried to hide the laugh that threatened to part my lips as he continued, "We've had Bob, Steve, Todd… Gimme a name I'm pretty sure we've had a Wraith named it. Anyway, I need to take over the off-world mission John was meant to lead, so I need you to head the security for Todd."

I nodded, nervously and we came to a stop. Lorne turned to order the soldiers behind us into the right places. When everyone was ready, he turned back to me. "Remember this formation. 1, 2, 3, 4-" He pointed at each person in turn then pointed at me. "And 5. Remember all of them. If Todd gets out-"

"He won't Major, now go. I'll be fine okay. I've been back at the SGC for years, I know how to handle a prisoner. Go!"

"Okay." He turned to leave then walked back to me. "Chris, you're going to need this." He held out his hand. Resting there in his palm was a tiny communicator.

"Right." I picked it up, turning it over in my fingers. If I put it in my ear, it wouldn't reach my mouth. Or my cheek. The ones at Stargate Command were definitely a bigger version.

"Okay, I gotta go. And can I suggest you use it now?"

"That's what I was planning." I hooked the COM unit in my ear, watching him leave, still trying not to laugh at the wraith names. A while after Lorne had left, Mr. Woolsey walked up to the door I was guarding. I opened it for him and saw the wraith was already inside the room. Not long after the door closed behind him, something not meant for me drifted through the COM unit.


	2. Chapter 2

'_Well, here we are again.'_

It was Woolsey. Surely he'd be the last person to leave his com unit on? I only caught bits of the second person speaking; the wraith.

'_Indeed…'_ (Oh god we've got another Teal'c-like guy who likes the word 'indeed'!) '_…Familiar to me…Daily life… See it destroyed.'_

'_Are you suggesting that if we don't help you that would be a likely outcome?'_

They weren't talking about Atlantis being destroyed were they?

'_Alright_,' Woolsey continued, '_let's start at the beginning. Where did the ZPM come from?'_ Or destroying a ZPM?

'_The devices… Replicator…'_ Replicators! This wraith was crazy! '_…Destroyed.' _That word again.

'_Yes and they were lost when Colonel Sheppard took out the cloning facility.' _I really had to ask Teyla about that. There was a long frustrating pause until Woolsey said, '_How many more?' _Did this wraith have a stash of ZPM's hidden away somewhere?

There was another pause, but near the end I caught a quiet, '_Unnecessary details'_ what the hell?

'_I like details'._

'_Even … Number…Verifying it. What's the point?'_

'_Alright, then tell me this, why now? You've had those ZPM's for over a year.' _What? I hated this wraith and I could barely hear him! Was this how Sheppard or the rest of Atlantis felt?

There was another pause. It seemed like hours, listening for a sentence that might never be heard. Again, I caught the end… '_One of them succeeded.'_

'_Only he didn't want to turn it over to you. He decided he wanted to keep it for himself. And now you want us to help you kick him to the curb.'_

'_What you really need to know is that this hive is a work in progress. It has yet to reach its full potential. This means if you attack it now, you may be able to destroy it. But if you hesitate, it will be too late and this hive will be unstoppable.'_

My mouth dropped half open at the wraith's last, crisp, clear words. I froze, trying to hide the nervousness that engulfed my entire body as Woolsey stepped through the doors once more. I stood waiting, for hours.

I sighed, Woolsey knew about this but I felt like someone else should know, I couldn't tell anyone, not until it was made public by Woolsey himself. He would most likely tell Colonel Sheppard and his team anyway, right? Footsteps echoed through the quiet corridors and I stood tall, straight, expecting Mr. Woolsey again. And it was, my first hunch was right. As he walked through the corridor he dismissed the airmen one by one saying they were no longer needed, but to be ready to return when asked. They all nodded and left in turn. Finally he turned to me and said the same thing to me.

"Sir," I asked, "What…Why are we leaving now? We've not been here that long."

"Don't worry, Lieutenant. It's just that Todd's been taken up to the Daedelus." He answered then turned to leave again, leaving me to de-suit and wonder what to do next.

"It's Captain." I called half-heartedly after him. If the whole of Atlantis was going to be put on alert soon, us lower ranking officers, doctors and technicians were going to what? Sit around and twiddle our thumbs?

I hurried through the endless corridors.

A new ZPM?

In the hands of a wraith?

Wraith and Replicators ?

Worst of all an unstoppable hive ship?

A lot was explained to me before I reached Atlantis, but this was madness. I could tell something was about to go very wrong, something worse that what I'd already heard. I couldn't shake the feeling.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was heading for the gate room, but my mind was whizzing around a mile a minute, too fast for me to really comprehend where I was headed. I barely noticed I was about to walk straight into someone.

"Chris?" Lorne had his arms around me when I looked up. "Are you okay?" He stared down at me.

"Yeah," I could feel my face was blank, no emotion whatsoever. "Yeah, I just needed to get some air." I pulled free of his arms "Aren't you meant to be away 'till 5?" Making conversation made me forget a little of what I'd just heard, and emotion returned to my face. I don't know which emotion it was, but it was one of 'em.

"We got back early. Emergency recall. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. Ask me the same thing in 5 seconds I'll give you the exact same answer. Emergency recall? Jo will be back any minute then." Suddenly I felt hopeful. My baby sister always cheered me up. We were like twins; we always knew when something had happened to the other. I looked straight at him. "What?"

"I'm lucky I ran into you. Colonel Sheppard asked me to put my team together. Turns out that wraith had some Intel on a couple of ZPM's."

"No kidding." I sighed. He gave me a bit of a weird look then carried on.

"And a ZPM powered hive ship." Damn. That's what they were talking about! My mouth dropped open. That was extremely bad news. "So we need to be ready. Even if Sheppard's plan works, and they do destroy this hive, we're gonna try and get the location of the ZPM's anyway."

"That makes sense to me. With all these hives coming at us, were going to have to use the shields more."

"Right." He paused. "The prisoner is gonna stay on the Daedelus, so you don't need to return to your post. Where you headed?"

"I think I might…" I thought for a while. "Go to the Mess hall." I said confidently.

"I might come with you then, I have no where else to go."

We'd been sitting in the mess hall for a while, just talking over lunch when we both had to answer a call on the com units. We had to suit up and go the gate room, looked like Colonel Sheppard's mission had failed and we were going to get the ZPM's after all.

We left the mess hall, only stopping at the main armoury to suit up and meet the other two members of our team before carrying on the gate room. When we got there we stood, all four of us: Lorne, two sergeants and me on the embarkation floor. I stood there silently, my eyes closed, counting the familiar sounds of the locking chevrons. 1…Ka-Klunk

2…Ka-Klunk

3…Ka-Klunk

Back at the SGC I'd been a team leader. SG-5 was my team. I opened my eyes.

6…Ka-Klunk

7…Ka-Klunk

The event horizon, unstable, burst out of the Stargate, filling half the room. The settled to a shimmering blue puddle suspended in the circle. Lorne and I walked through the gate side by side and the sergeants did the same.

As soon as we were through, we took cover just beside a group of trees. This planet was abandoned, but Atlantis still knew it well. It was a popular spot for wraith hives to stop on their way between cullings. The mountains, which stood in clusters around the planet, were perfect to hide the organic structure of the ships. Michael also set up a lab here for his hybrid experiments. From the little investigations the science teams had done in the past, they thought it was where Michael cloned Dr. Beckett.

Right ahead of us was a mountain range. It was a long one. Exactly as Colonel Sheppard had described. The peaks so white they blended with the clouds. They were so high and broad that I could easily see why hives liked to hide there. The dense, beautifully green forest hid most of what was there. Everything was tinted an orangey yellow from the setting sun.

I picked up my binoculars and scanned the mountain range and the forests that surrounded it for signs of wraith. Lorne had told me to whilst we were suiting up. Neither of us liked the idea of heading into a wraith-infested area looking for a cave, which may or may not exist, and we'd never seen before, to find Zero-point-modules, which, again, may or may not exist. Wow. Put like that there didn't seem much in the way of solid facts.

I gave the wraith-ship-all-clear anyway, and waited with my two other teammates for Lorne to say if he could see the cave. Eventually he dropped his binoculars and turned back to us, saying, "There's a trail that begins on the outskirts of the woods, I can't see the cave so I figure if we follow that, we may come across it."

The two sergeants exchanged concerned looks then went ahead, the lights from their P-90s leading the way through the dimming light. I knew those two, I had met them about a year before, Sergeants Greene and Rose. Hey were a little troublesome. They liked to play pranks and talk back. I laughed quietly to myself, wondering how Atlantis was coping.

Sunset here lasted only a few minutes and we'd arrived just in time for it. Night unfortunately lasted a full 25 hours; damn alien planets. And that meant we were going to be here in the complete dark. Stupid wraith probably timed it.

We trudged through the long grasses of the meadow, becoming increasingly dependent on our flashlights as the natural light faded. When we reached the first of the trees, it was already completely dark. The trees, which stood at the very least 10 times taller than us, made me feel very small, tiny, on this planet of huge things.

The trail the Major had found was narrow. I wondered how he'd been able to find it from the gate, even with binoculars. We had to walk single-file, one by one to keep on the trail.

It probably didn't help that my mind was constantly on wraith, but for about half an hour I could've sworn there was someone following us. Watching our every move from the shadows.

Something shuffled behind me.

Then dashed through the bushes to my left.

I jumped, dropping the ZPM box and my flashlight, grabbing my gun. I aimed it where the noise had come from. Safety was off and it was fully loaded. Right then, it felt like the best thing in the world to have in my hands.

"Captain?" Lorne asked.

"Something's there."

"Captain, I didn't-"

"It's there Major," I said sternly, "There's nothing on this planet but plants and birds. It wasn't a bird."

"There's no wraith or hybrids on this planet. This is going to be easy okay? Get the ZPM's and get out." He eased the gun out of my tight grip. I picked up the torch and case and followed the sergeants once more. I wasn't quite content without my gun, and I don't think I trusted the Major's words.

The trek was mostly uphill and it took us a while to realise, we were actually being taken right up on one of the mountains. Lorne and me were talking about that, I guess he was angrier at me when I was late earlier because it was in the middle of events, when one of the sergeants piped up, followed by the second.

"Major! Captain! There's a clearing up ahead, I think I can see a cave!"

"Yeah, this might be it!" They ran off, heading for the clearing, leaving me and Lorne behind. He turned back to me, smiling, and grabbed my hand. He started pulling me along so fast I could barely take in the surroundings. Our flashlights were dancing everywhere in the forest, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Lorne, slow down!" Instead, of course, he went faster. We burst through the trees into the clearing moments after the other two. "Look, there's the cave!" I cried leaning against Lorne's shoulder, trying to catch my breath and stop laughing. I still had the giggles; they're kind of hard to hard to suppress when you've been pulled around like that.

The two sergeants walked inside, P-90's raised. Lorne stayed with me while I caught my breath, then we ran inside when the cave exploded with cheers. We'd found them.

They were quite a way inside, but we found the other two pretty quick. I collected the ZPM's and handed the case to Lorne.

We made it back to the gate in record time. My little outburst probably hadn't helped us go any faster. But, just before Lorne began dialling the DHD, the earth began to shake. I turned around and saw a Wraith hive, rising up out of the mountains. "I was right! There was something there!" Lorne then lifted his gun. The two sergeants behind us raised their P-90's once more, aiming for the massive hive.


	3. Chapter 3

The lights on the DHD disappeared and Lorne clipped his P-90 to his vest as the darts started screaming through the air. The DHD lit up once more and the chevron behind us locked into place. Lorne seized my arm and pulled me to the side.

"Run!" He Yelled.

I looked back when we were halfway to the tree line, most of the chevrons had locked and the two sergeants were out of sight. I struggled out of Lorne's grip to switch off the light on my P-90. The short, hasty race carried us past the tree line and into the thicker trees. We started to run the circle of the clearing, searching for the other members of our team. I started to wonder why Evan hadn't stopped yet, so I looked over my shoulder, seeing a few Wraith following our trail. A faint babble whispered through the air as the first dart sped through the gate. Lorne seemed to speed up with the sound and I reached out for his hand, scared he could leave me behind somehow.

"Come here," He told me as he wrapped his arm around me shoulders, pulling me down into a small hollow by the roots of an upturned tree. When we sat down, curled up beside each other in the outlet, I searched around for my gun. It wasn't there. Worried, I bit my lip as I checked the clip. It was broken. The force of my running had caused it to break and the gun to fall. I crawled out to the side of the hollow, not noticing Evan watching the other way, and scanned the ground for my weapon. I saw it almost instantly, the light had clicked back on and two wraiths were following it. I Jumped out of the hollow and ran towards the gun, I skidded at the last minute, grabbing the gun and twisting around holding it pointing straight at the first wraith.

He hissed and ran towards me, so I emptied half the clip into his chest. The wraith fell and landed heavily on my legs. I squirmed around a little, trying to get my legs free but after a moment, the wraith was lifted off me. It was Evan. He held out a hand for me, so I took it and jumped up.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He paused looking at me before sighing.

I put one hand on my hip, the other keeping a firm grip on my weapon. "What?"

"Now they know where we are, and that we're here."

It was my turn to sigh. "I wasn't going to leave my gun there." I pulled it up to my chest. "Besides, surely they saw us by the Gate?"

Three wraith weapons fired somewhere behind me and the crack of P-90 fire burst from the other side of the clearing. I couldn't help but laugh a little. "Okay now they defiantly know we're here."

Evan smiled at me then started walking back to the hollow he had found. I checked behind me once more, looking down at the wraith. His fist clenched and his eyes flickered a little. I winced and ran after Lorne to keep up with him.

"They're a lot uglier in person." I said grimacing.

One of the sergeants, Sergeant Greene, was waiting for us at the hollow. He checked around him when he saw us approach, "Have you seen Rose?" He asked us a little worried, "I lost him when we ran to the trees."

"Major," I warned him, "The gunfire." I looked up to the side at Evan, now worried myself.

Greene's gaze flicked between us. "But, I thought that was you?"

I shook my head. "The first burst was us, the second, wasn't."

"Is it possible it could have been Wraith?" Lorne sounded a little unsure, and I think I confirmed his suspicions when I shook my head again.

"No, it was defiantly P-90 fire."

"Okay, you two stay here, I'll go look for him." He started to walk away but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Hey, why do we have to stay behind? We can cover more ground if we all go together. Can't we?"

"Yes, we could but this way at least we won't all get lost and you can get back by the check in."

I sighed and looked down. "All right fine. But I'm gonna wait for you." I grinned at him and didn't give him a chance to answer before I jumped back down into the hollow. I sat down in a humph and waited as Sergeant Greene climbed in next to me.

I turned to him, "How long have we been here?"

He checked his watch carefully. "An hour and a half."

"Really?" I looked up absent-mindedly at the starry sky beyond the canopy, "It feels like longer. And we have to sit here for that long again? We have an hour before I go mad." Greene laughed beside me.

For a while I think I fell asleep, but not for long. Not long after I woke up, I heard a quiet murmuring to my right. Carefully, unsure of whether it was Evan with Rose or not, I crawled up the side of the hollow and peeked out. Two wraith, not far from our hiding place were speaking.

"Leave the culling. Leave the Humans. We're to get back to the Alliance." One said to the other.

The second wraith growled "Why? What is it now?"

"There was a transmission not long ago. Sekhmet is awake."

"Sekhmet?" The second wraith sounded as if he were in shock. "But she's just a myth..." The voices faded as they walked away.

I slumped back into my place in the hollow and nudged Greene. "Hey," I asked quietly, "Wasn't Sekhmet an Egyptian goddess? The lion Goddess, right?"

"Mm, I think so yeah, why?"

I reached up to my radio. "Just curious." I clicked the radio on. "Major? The wraith are leaving, they've been ordered to leave us alone. Where are you?" I clicked it off and waited for the reply.

I waited patiently until his voice crackled through. "Okay, Rose and I are headed for the Gate. Meet us there?"

"Copy that."

I jumped up, and started back towards the clearing, happy to finally be on my way out.

It didn't take long to reach the Gate "Never ever leave me behind again. I nearly went crazy."

We dialled the gate and the GDO quickly.

The bright lights in the debarkation room stunned my eyes momentarily before they adjusted. Mr Woolsey and John were waiting for us when we arrived.


	4. Chapter 4

I hit the mat with a loud thud.

"Ooow!" I yelled. I rolled my head to the sides trying to stretch out my neck; my eyes were still squeezed tightly shut after bracing for the impact. When I opened them, a hand was being offered to me. I took it and was pulled up quickly. "Thank you."

I'd been sparring with Evan to pass the time until I'd be needed again. So far, I hadn't been. That was the fourth time I'd been knocked down in a row. I was out of practice, more used to basketball with Cam back at the SGC. It was usually on a Friday. Cam played with his team on a Sunday as well. If neither one of us was off world, neither one of us would be alone. He used to say I was like his little sister, which was sweet. My head flooded with memories of Cameron, who was one of my best friends on Cheyenne Mountain. I was going to miss him while I was here and basketball was now sparring with big sticks.

"Don't you think we should stop now? I think you've gone down enough." His eyebrows knitted together, he sighed and pulled a towel off the table in the corner.

I smiled at him, asking, "Do you want to stop?" I rolled my head to the side, breathing a little deeper than normal and putting my hands on my hips.

Evan gave me a blank look.

I took the towel from him and threw it in the corner. "Then let's go." I stepped back, taking my stance once again, "Round five. I don't mind. Come on." I smiled widely and he rolled his eyes at me but I saw the smile hinting at his lips. He turned around then back to me, the tiny smile gone, replaced by a serious look. He took the stance too and we stood opposite each other, waiting for one to begin.

Neither one of us moved, the sparring staffs suspended in the air, seemingly frozen. I turned slightly to one side then used the extra room to build up the momentum of the first blow. It hissed through the air and I hit Lorne's staff with a thwack, then I slid it away and followed the first with a second, harder blow. Lorne was faster than me and caught my stick with both of his, pulling it back over to meet the floor. He spun his leg around underneath me and knocked me over onto the mats once more. I dropped both staffs before I fell, but I twisted over, falling front-first. My head hit one of the staffs I'd dropped, and I heard a crack. I instantly knew it wasn't from the staff.

I sat up slowly, covering my nose with my hand for the moment while I waited for Evan to come over with a small towel. "It's the best we've got for now. Can you stand up? We should get you to the infirmary." He babbled as he grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

"You broke my nose!" I yelled at him. Well, when I say yell, it came out as more of a stifled mumble. I wasn't too happy it didn't come out right, but the towel in my face restricted my speech a little.

"Well I-" He was cut off by a low rumble. The whole room was shaking and if I wasn't mistaken, it was moving up. I didn't have much more time to think about it though, because the movement up-rooted my feet and sent me stumbling over to the side. I hit the wall head-first and slid down hard onto my bum. Today was not my day.

In the corner of my mind I heard Evan shout my name as I went flying but I concentrated more on the pounding headache I'd just gotten. I screwed my eyes up and dropped my head, willing the pain to leave. It didn't.

When he reached me the shaking hadn't stopped. He put a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Head...is swimming. Not good."

The shaking steadied quickly and Evan helped me up. I wobbled a little when I stood and tried opening my eyes, but I quickly shut them again.

"Now my vision is swimming..." I stumbled again so Evan put an arm around my waist to keep me up.

He led me through the corridors.

"Wow, that's funky!" We were walking down a corridor just next to the infirmary when I stopped, looking straight up at the ceiling. The lights above me seemed to be dancing across my vision.

Evan looked down at me, puzzled. "What is it?"

I smiled as widely as I could. "The lights are doing the can-can!"

Dr. Keller pulled away the cloth carefully. "What happened? I don't think I've ever had this bad with John and Ronon."

She pulled out a tray full medical things and put them on the bed next to where I sat.

"He hit me!" I said it as if I was annoyed and then smiled at Evan.

He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Yeah, then the lights started doing the can-can." Before Jennifer could ask, he explained. "She hit her head too."

Jennifer shivered. "You hit her that hard? Yikes."

"No," Evan laughed. "The city took off and she slipped."

"Ah, that makes sense." She finished putting the bandage on and I jumped down. Jennifer handed me a packet of painkillers as I left with Evan. "Oh, and Captain?"

I turned back to her. "Yes?"

"Woolsey wanted to see you. He'll be in his office."

I nodded, a little confused. "Okay," I turned back to Evan. "I'm gonna head straight there, I'll see you later."

"Okay." He smiled and headed down one way and I started down the other.

It didn't take me long to reach the control room. After looking around I saw Woolsey was in his office, sitting in his office. I made my way inside and he stood up when I arrived.

"Captain Gordon, do you want to take a seat?"

"No thank you." I said crossing my arms.

"Alright." Woolsey sat back down at his desk and looked up at me. "Chris, You know that we had to leave in a hurry. We recalled all off-world teams."

I nodded.

"Well," He clasped his hands together and leaned forwards. "Your sister was in an off-world-"

"I know what my sister was doing."

"Okay. What I need to tell you is that there were some teams we couldn't reach, some teams that didn't come back. Your sister was a part of a team that we couldn't contact."

I couldn't help it. I fell into the chair behind me. "So my sister is-"

"Still in Pegasus." He finished for me. Woolsey said the words I couldn't say and at that moment I think I might've stopped breathing while I was sitting there.


End file.
